New York Mets: Five best center fielders of all-time in franchise history

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: Carlos Beltran #15 of the New York Mets makes a running catch in centerfield against the Atlanta Braves September 6, 2006 during the second game of their doubleheader at Shea Stadium in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: Carlos Beltran #15 of the New York Mets makes a running catch in centerfield against the Atlanta Braves September 6, 2006 during the second game of their doubleheader at Shea Stadium in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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FLUSHING, NY – 1984: Mookie Wilson #1 of the New York Mets swings at the pitch during a 1984 season game against the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. (Photo by Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

2) Mookie Wilson

Next up on the top center fielders in franchise history we have a man who was involved in one of the most famous plays in baseball history with Mookie Wilson. Similar to Agee, Wilson’s career was not the longest as he only played in twelve seasons, but lucky for him ten of them came with the Mets.

Wilson had a strong ten-year run with the Mets which included a 1986 World Series Championship, a seventh-place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting, and a 25th place finish in MVP voting another year. In his ten seasons, he played in 907 games in center field and hit .276/.318/.394/.712 with 60 home runs, 342 RBI, and 281 stolen bases in 1,116 total games.

Even though he finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting and 25th in MVP voting another year, neither of those were his best year in the orange and blue. His best season came in 1984 where he slashed .276/.308/.409/.717 with a career-high 10 home runs, 54 RBI, 46 stolen bases, and a 3.8 WAR in 154 games.

Unlike Dykstra and Agee, Wilson was not the greatest in the center field defensively for the Mets. He was very inconsistent as he had two seasons where he had three seasons where his total zone fielding runs above average was five but another four seasons where he was negative.

When it came to the postseason, one at-bat sticks out in particular. Game 6 of the 1986 World Series in the bottom of the tenth where he had a ten pitch at-bat which resulted in the Mets walking off for a win and forcing a game seven. Outside of that at-bat, Wilson hit .269/.321/.308/.629 with 3 runs scored and 3 stolen bases in the seven games.

Even if you take the World Series at-bat away from Wilson, his career with the Mets was still fantastic. He is currently second all-time in stolen bases and triples, and sixth in hits and runs scored. His great career with the Mets brings him in as the second-best center fielder in franchise history.

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